CHAIN REACTION
by MycroftsAngelEyes
Summary: Every action has an equal reaction; the only problem is figuring out what and when that reaction will occur - Complete!
1. Chapter 1

**Okay; originally this story was written sometime early 09 and since I've improved in my writing skills and abilities, I've decided to give this story a re-vamp. I'm keeping the original (or partially-changed) story on FF if anyone wants to compare and tell me how much better I am now ;)**

**Anyway, I've wasted enough time; enjoy the read and enjoy it if you will.**

**KaseyKC**

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Chain Reaction

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_Every action has an equal reaction; the problem is figuring out what and when that reaction will occur.

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_**9:35am, FBI Office, Quantico**_

It was still early as of yet, but the drive into work had been anything but relaxing; road works on all the main highways along with an increased police presence because the PD had been getting called 'lax' and 'lardy-cops of Quantico' meant that Gideon had arrived twenty-minutes later than usual. That also meant that he was behind schedule and so he couldn't sit back and watch people rushing past his office; he basically couldn't waste time and perfect his profiling abilities.

After almost ten-minutes of watching people run by in a hurry and with a sense of urgency in their movements, Gideon was quite surprised when the phone on his desk rang; he hadn't used the thing more than once or twice and that was only when he had to deal with Strouse.

He immediately answered it and listened intently as the caller rattled away and went on and on about how much they needed the help of the B.A.U; well, the guy didn't actually say that but Gideon's profiling skills informed him of that.

Eventually the caller was silent and Gideon was able to get a word in, "Okay, we'll be there in a few hours," was all he said before he hung up; feeling incredibly happy that he'd cut the call and so didn't have to listen to the guy much more. He really did hate getting these early-morning calls from PD detectives who thought nothing of his skills, thought nothing of the B.A.U and the star team which he was a part of.

He wearily arose, his chair squeaking as he pushed it away from his desk, and looked through the large window that allowed him a decent view of the bullpen. He could see Morgan, looking for all intents and purposes like he was trying to sleep on the mountain of paperwork he had yet to do, and also JJ who looked as bright and bushy-eyed as ever; which didn't exactly make Gideon feel any happier because he felt like he could do with a couple more _weeks_ in bed.

He frowned when he saw Reid walk in with a cup of coffee and next to Emily, also carrying a cup of coffee; from the same cafe, and they were talking and chatting and smiling at each other. He shook his head, and reasoned that they're friends, nothing more.

He moved towards his open door and leaned his head out, he saw Hotch coming over towards him on the catwalk and he said quickly, "We've been requested."

"I know," Hotch answered as he stopped beside Gideon, "They called me after you hung up on them."

"He was annoying me," Gideon shrugged and Hotch raised an eyebrow.

Gideon walked along the catwalk and Hotch fell into step beside him, as they descended the stairs he called out, "Guys, we've got a case. Atlanta City's called us in."

Reid and the others looked at Gideon and Hotch for a moment before scrambling to get their gear, and Reid, after grabbing his satchel bag and jacket, caught up with Gideon and Hotch who were about to enter the lift and asked, "What's the case?"

"They've got an Unsub who's kidnapping and murdering young girls," Gideon answered simply as everyone dived into the lift and the doors closed with a loud 'bing'.

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_**11:25am, B.A.U Jet**_

The sun was shining brightly above the clouds and the jet coasted along at roughly 30'000 feet, allowing the occupants of the jet to garner some sun before they descended beneath the clouds again. It had been forecast that it would rain today in Atlanta meaning that they would be landing in the midst of the rain; and none of them had any waterproofs with them. Not that they were really concerned with that since they all had their holdalls and a spare change of clothes with them.

Reid was sat reading a novel by a British author and Gideon was staring out of the window while Derek Morgan, Jennifer Jareau, Emily Prentiss and Aaron Hotchner, sat together around the collapsible table, discussing the homicides and the possible personality of the killer.

"Each of these victims look alike and all of them have the exact same injuries," Jennifer Jareau, also known as JJ, said more to herself than to the others, "How could anyone do such a thing?"

Morgan didn't speak and neither did Prentiss or Hotch. Gideon seemed to be lost in his own realm as he continued to stare at the clouds and wonder about the different hues and tones they took on when the sun shone over them. Reid, who hadn't looked up from his novel and so didn't see the subtle look that Prentiss, Morgan and Hotch gave each other, answered JJs query.

"Serial killers can't always see the difference between normal and abnormal like we can, to them this level of violence could be normal." He continued to read his novel, flipping through the pages insanely fast whilst still taking in each and every word on each of them.

"Have you even _seen_ these photos?" JJ demanded as she stood up and stalked over to him. As he looked at her she shoved several of the photographs she held in her hand towards him, "Look at them Reid!"

Slowly putting down his book, Reid studied each of the photographs closely; taking in every detail in them, "They seem familiar somehow," he commented quietly, looking from the photographs to the others.

"In what way?" Gideon spoke, apparently he had focused on the conversation at some point because he looked at Reid closely and observed his reaction.

"Like I've seen them before, like I _know_ them," Reid answered looking back at the photographs again, searching through his eidetic memory, trying to find the link to the whisper of an image in his mind's eye.

"Maybe you're thinking of someone else," Prentiss offered as there was an uncomfortable silence on the plane. She was watching Reid's reaction also and noted that he looked even more distressed by that obvious statement than he had even been when looking at photographs from even the most gruesome of cases they had worked on. It intrigued and worried her in equal measures because she was certain that it was probably someone, or something, from his past that had sparked him when he had set eyes upon those photographs he held in his hands.

"I know I'm thinking of someone else but they look like her, all of them!" Reid insisted looking at her with an earnest gaze, "Someone I knew… years ago..."

"Who?" Gideon asked softly, his voice gentle but firm; he knew that Reid was uncomfortable when talking about his past but he also knew that if the information was relevant to the case then he needed to know.

"Err…" Reid looked at Gideon with a rather pretentious half-glare on his face and was briefly debating whether or not to answer, but even he knew that Gideon would on have asked him if it could be important to the case so he decided to grimace and 'suck-it up' as Morgan often said, "Maybe Sara Clarkson, I think."

Gideon nodded and, knowing that Reid didn't want to discuss it any further with the rest of the team around, picked up his cell phone, flipped it open and rang their technical analyst; Penelope Garcia.

Garcia was happily beating some poor 'Elf Lord's' arse on the MMORPG that she was a member of; one of the highest ranking members if she did say so herself, when Gideon's call distracted her from landing her killing blow. Though it was annoying for her, it saved Elf Lord's arse and she couldn't exactly begrudge her sexy man; especially when it was his team that was calling. She was fully expecting Morgan to be the one who had called her and so greeted the caller with her usual enthusiasm.

"What's up my sexy man?" She asked with a cheeky voice as she typed away on her computer, pulling up the search database she seemed to always be using whenever the team were on a case.

Garcia, run a search for a Sara Clarkson," Gideon said, ordered, her completely ignoring the tone of voice which she'd answered the call with and getting straight to the point. He didn't want to reprimand her for her behaviour since it was one of the many quirks of one Penelope Garcia that made his life easier to life; if someone like Garcia could be so silly and childish when she had to trawl through horrific child-porn sites and look at video-posts of murders on a near-enough daily basis then he wasn't going to damage her way of coping with it all.

"Err… yes Sir. Not a problem!" She stuttered and flushed bright pink as she realised that she had greeted her boss in such an inappropriate way. She hurriedly began to work her computer wizardry, searching through the Social Security database as well as all available, and a few unavailable through legal means, databases that she could gain access to.

She found several pieces of information about the girl Gideon was searching for, including a couple of newspaper articles, and professionally informed Gideon of it, "Sarah Jane Clarkson born in 1986 to Alex and Frances Clarkson. She has, had, one brother. There's a police report and records of the deaths of both her parents and her brother; they died in a car crash eleven years ago. She was the only one who survived; and suffers from PTSD, due to the crash."

"What's her address?" Gideon asked, feeling bad for the girl but he couldn't afford to feel sympathy for a murder; even if she was only murdering because she was so traumatised.

"One second," Garcia replied, a few commands in-putted into her computer later which rewarded her with every piece of information pertaining to Sarah Clarkson's whereabouts and she had an address, sort of, "There's no listed address but there is a PO in Atlanta City in her name. There are no credit cards in her name, though she could be using an alias, no leases on any homes and no memberships or job records that use her name. She's off the radar; to a point sir."

Gideon sighed and said, "Thanks Penny," he was getting tired of the needle in a needlestack that was situated in the middle of a nuclear fall-out zone; they had a suspect but couldn't locate said suspect. The irony.

Garcia heard the sigh in Gideon's voice and said quickly, "I'm sorry sir. I'll keep looking for anything but I don't really think I'll find anything."

"It's alright Penny, bye," Gideon hung up the call and placed the cell phone on the unopened file in his lap. He then looked directly at Reid.

"I think you might be right," he said finally and he watched how Reid tried to not show any outward signs of panic or worry.

Reid nodded mutely and placed the photographs back on the table before refocusing his attention on his novel; trying to forget everything and become lost in the words and the false world of Sherlock Holmes. Needless to say, he wasn't succeeding all that well.

Taking Reid's behaviour as a sign that they should stop discussing the case, and also stop staring at Reid, the others all busied themselves with other things; Emily dug out the book that she'd 'borrowed' from Reid's desk earlier that week; JJ went over the case details with Hotch in silence, and Morgan slipped his headphones into his ears and began playing some random assortment of music. Gideon though did not go back to staring out of the window and instead chose to subtly study Reid as he attempted to read his novel, all the while with a growing look of worry and discontent upon his young face. Secretly, Gideon was worried about Reid, '_he's been through a lot lately; far too much for him, for anyone... He needs a break_.'

As the jet continued to coast along at 30'000 feet, the sun continued to shine through the porthole windows and Gideon continued to observe Reid, and there was silence within the jet as no-one dared to speak a word.

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_**12:54pm, Atlanta Police Precinct, Atlanta.**_

The Atlanta Police Precinct wasn't old but it looked shabby; the walls were a muted, concrete grey; the windows were old, with peeling white paint; and there was little in the way of parking out front which meant the teams SUVs had to pull into the squad-car parking lot behind the precinct. Inside wasn't much better; it was cramped and humid, the place lacked any sufficient air conditioning, and there was a distinct musty smell in the air. Detective John Disart, the lead on the case the team had come to consult on, was showing BAU to the conference room, used for interviews and press releases as he chatted to them with an easy-going smile that was anything but easy for the team to constantly look at.

"You can use this place if you want, I guess it's not what you guys are used to but it's the best we can do," Disart said cheerfully showing them into the large room, airy room; which still had the musty smell. In the centre was a long oak table complete with hardback, material-covered chairs, "I just hope you guys can figure this out, God knows that this sicko's out to get as many as possible," Disart shook his head and added in a more cheerful voice, "Just holler out if you want anything."

"We will," Hotch muttered too quietly for Disart to hear as he left them alone.

The team all sat down at the table, bar Reid; choosing their seats almost as if they were already allocated. Hotch sat at the head, Morgan to his immediate right, Gideon to his immediate left, then JJ next to Gideon and Prentiss next to Morgan. Reid avoided the table and moved instead over towards the window where he stared out and up at the murky clouds that were several different tones of pewter grey.

"Reid," Gideon said, his voice loud in the silence of the room and startling to Reid, who had been getting lost in the turmoil evident in the clouds. Reid slowly tore his eyes away from the clouds and settled them on Gideon; the two dark brown orbs filled with an almost indiscernible annoyance and discomfort. Something that most people wouldn't have picked up on, but Gideon wasn't most people.

"What?" Reid asked his voice soft but sharp, filled with reluctance, as Gideon and the others stared at him. He was beginning to feel increasingly annoyed and agitated with the constant staring.

"Could you please sit down?" Gideon asked looking Reid directly in the eyes. Though Gideon didn't move or point or glare at Reid there was a subtle shift in his eyes and a slight stiffening of his posture that told Reid that it wouldn't be prudent to argue or be rebellious so he decided to do as Gideon asked.

Nodding tightly Reid sat down opposite Hotch, in the last available seat, and tried to avoid the searching and analytical gazes of his team members.

"The Unsub," Gideon said, slowly and deliberately, and everyone turned their attention from Reid and onto him, "Derek, JJ, Emily, I want you to start making a profile on this unsub now. Hotch, would you ask Disart to see if anyone knows Sarah Clarkson and ask if anyone has heard of her brother…"

"Michael," Reid said quietly, causing the others to look at Reid briefly.

"…Michael Clarkson, please?" Gideon continued without looking at Reid and the others took the hint and stopped gawping at him.

"Sure," Hotch said getting to his feet; he quickly and silently left the room, going in search of Detective Disart.

"On it boss," Derek said as he stood up and JJ and Emily followed him; they walked over to the open door at the other end of the room and saw to their amusement a whiteboard which they wheeled out and set-up near the windows.

"Reid, come with me," Gideon quietly said to Reid as he stood up slowly and made his way towards the door; he knew that Reid was following him and so didn't turn around to check.

Silently following Gideon out the door and towards the men's bathroom, Reid thought about what was about to happen and how much Gideon would ask to know; his thoughts didn't make him feel any better and he was seriously debating becoming a clam when Gideon opened the door to the men's bathroom and gestured for him to enter. Gideon closed the door once Reid was inside and silently watched as the young man walked over to one of the sinks and busied himself with washing his hands; wasting time, putting off the questioning that he knew was about to come.

"Spencer, I know you don't like to talk about your past, but right now I need to know everything about Sara Clarkson and her brother. You knew them," He said quietly, his voice firm but also understanding; he knew how hard it was to discuss painful memories from a less-than idealistic upbringing, but he couldn't ignore the fact that he needed to know for the sake of the case and to bring justice to the victims.

Reid didn't answer, he just continued to wash his hands over and over in the cold water that was coming from the tap; he was trying to collect his thoughts and he found that the repetitiveness of the action of washing his hands was helpful to him ordering his thoughts into a single coherent thought that he could share. After about five minutes of washing his hands, during which Gideon didn't speak or make a move to stop him, Reid took a deep breath and said slowly, "Okay, what do you want to know?"

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**TBC...**

**I'll upload the next chapter when I edit it and improve it and add to it. Please review this and tell me if it's better the way it is now or the way it was; I'm guessing the answer will be now ;)**

**KaseyKC**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's the second chapter of this; as I'm sure you can see, this one has also been revamped and I hope you enjoy it more than the old version. Enjoy.**

**KaseyKC

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_**13:25pm, Conference room, Atlanta Police Precinct**_

In the conference room Morgan, JJ and Prentiss were working on the profile; Emily was at the whiteboard adding bits here-and-there about some of the victims.

Morgan and JJ were seated at the table next to each other with pieces of paper surrounding them, each piece holding a small part of the unsub's motive and psyche. Morgan sighed and looked at JJ, "What do you think Gideon's talking about with Reid?" he finally asked, secretly JJ was surprised that he hadn't asked sooner. He looked at her and watched her reaction closely.

"I don't know and, at the moment, I don't care," JJ replied bluntly as she wrote down some possible traits of the Unsub. Though she was worried about Reid she knew that Gideon was dealing with it and she knew how Gideon dealt with things and so was content with leaving Reid in Gideon's capable hands. Morgan however, still worried about Reid and was extremely protective of him, 'probably considers him to be like a little brother of his' JJ thought as she jotted down some notes on possible childhood abuse.

Morgan, clearly not impressed by JJs answer, said, "Maybe it's related to the case?" he watched her reaction and wasn't surprised when all he received was a shrug; JJ was too busy trying to figure out the profile. The profile that Morgan should also be working on.

"What relates to the case?" Reid asked as he re-entered the room looking more at ease, he looked curiously at Morgan and Morgan suddenly realised that Reid probably had one of the best set of ears on his head because he knew for a fact that Reid hadn't been near enough to hear him unless he had been shouting.

"Nothing," Morgan said quickly cursing himself.

"Oh right," Reid simply said. "So, what you got so far?" he peered over her shoulder and took in the lack of notes.

"Not that much, just that the killer might have had an abusive childhood," JJ said resigning herself to yawn, she was the team liaison, she didn't _do_ the profiling thing all the time; just the talking to the press, "Want to have a go? Be my guest."

"Okay, thanks," Reid said as he slipped into the seat next to her and took the pad and pen from her out-stretched hands. Leaning back he began to scribble furiously, making only a few brief pauses to consider the wording of his sentences and occasionally to amend a previous line.

As he continued to note down various thoughts and memories on the Unsub, JJ and Morgan stared at him with growing amazement. Prentiss who had been focusing on the board had looked around and was also staring at him, watching in shock as he wrote on, oblivious to their stares. Gideon, who had entered the room just after Reid but hadn't drawn much attention from the other's, was stood near the door and watching with a growing sense of satisfaction as Reid scrabbled on and on for almost three pages; he was proud of Reid, he really was.

When he was finally finished, or as finished as he could be, Reid stopped writing and looked up at the others who were still ogling at him. Resisting the urge to smile he looked at JJ and said, "Here. It sounds okay to me, but..." he trailed off as JJ took the pad from his outstretched hand and began to read through it.

JJ flipped through the pages speed-reading, though she was sure Reid could read the entire thing in less time than it took her to even turn the pages, as she went along and was feeling more and more shocked and surprised as she read each line and took in each bullet-pointed sentence in Reid's scrawny-scroll handwriting.

Morgan, sitting next to her, leaned in slightly so he could catch a couple of the words and even he had to admit that Reid was on a roll today, _'man, is he high from too much coffee or something?'_

"Reid this is _really_ good stuff, how did you think of all this?" JJ asked as she passed the pad to Morgan who flicked through the pages quickly before handing it to Prentiss who absorbed every little detail that Reid had put down, as though she were a human sponge; much like Reid in fact.

Reid paused for a moment and wondered if he should explain everything to them, everything about Sarah and how he knew her, but he decided against it choosing instead to shrug and say nonchalantly, "I just looked and saw what was already there."

As the others continued to stare at him with surprised and confused expressions, Reid delved into his satchel and took out the novel he was reading and continued to read at a slower pace than usually, choosing to savour the words. He knew that they were all surprised, even Gideon, at his sudden change in demeanour and the information he'd shared with them and it made him feel better; even if it was for a short time only.

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_**14:53 pm, Conference room, Atlanta Police Precinct**_

Since Reid had blitzed the profile for them, JJ, Morgan and Emily had found it pretty easy to sort it out and organise it into sections for them to sprout out when they were to inform the police officers; which was now.

JJ was stood near to Morgan and Emily was on the other side of the room; Hotch was at the front and Gideon was next to him. Reid was off to the side leaning on a desk and looking with interest out of the window opposite him; he was observing the cloud formation again and was jolted from his thoughts when JJ began to speak.

"We have an approximate profile of the killer," she began, immediately gaining the attention of the police officers and detectives in the room, "it is most likely it is a male, aged 25-35 years, strong and maybe goes to a gym."

This was where Morgan took over and he began to speak, drawing everyone's attention to him, "he might have some knowledge of law enforcement, maybe he's a volunteer or a security guard."

Then Emily who stood up and spoke clearly, looking at each police officer and detective in the room to try and convey her point, "He'll most likely be ignorant to others, think they are unimportant and pointless, have either speech problems or a disfigurement due to the bodies being blindfolded post-mortem and letters that seem to have been left purposely at the crime scenes."

"Should we release this to the media?" A young detective asked looking pointedly at JJ, who had started the profile.

"No. Not yet," Gideon answered looking over at the detective, "I don't want to give him a head-start."

The detective looked like he was about to argue with Gideon's decision but one of the guys next to him elbowed him in the ribs and gave him a warning look so he kept silent. Gideon, who had already turned away and was leaving the room, didn't notice the detective.

Reid, looking at the others noticed that none were making any move to follow Gideon, left the room and caught up with Gideon who was a few steps ahead.

"Are you sure we shouldn't release the profile yet? It might save someone's life," Reid asked, genuinely curious as to why Gideon wasn't releasing the profile. He watched Gideon closely as he responded.

"Yes, we need him to think that he has the upper hand, if we release this profile and it's wrong, he could kill again in anger, to _show_ we got the profile wrong," Gideon replied closing his eyes as he added, in a tired and subdued tone, "They _really_ need to get air conditioning in here."

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**TBC...**

**I'll be putting up the rest after I've finished editing it, otherwise I hope you enjoy. KaseyKC**


	3. Chapter 3

**Alright here's the next (revised) chapter of this fic. I hope anyone who's reading this enjoys the greater amount of detail in it and will REVIEW! Please...**

**KaseyKC

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_**16:23pm, Park Avenue, Atlanta, Georgia**_

The sun was trying to vainly shine through the clouds that, as of yet, still had to disperse. That meant that the world was a murky and muted grey; which didn't suit Kimberly at all. She much preferred the sun, and getting a tan; like any other cheerleader/soccer player and teenage girl.

Sitting on the low wall that ran the perimeter of the astro-turf the team used to practise on, a young girl named Kimberly White was sipping a can of cola as she waited for her mom to come pick her up from soccer practice. She was happily listening to her i-pod, playing some random pop-hit that she couldn't even remember the words to and was swaying to the music. Because of the volume she had her music at, and the fact that she had both earbuds in, she didn't hear the footfalls heading towards her, from behind.

She also didn't see the owner of the footsteps since she was idly staring at the children playing on the jungle-gym on the other side of the park, _'I don't need glasses if I can see them from here!'_ she thought to herself as she took another sip of her drink; all the while completely unaware of the person who was now standing directly behind her.

When the figure deemed the moment to be right the figure sprung; grabbing Kimberly around the neck in a headlock whilst covering her mouth with a cloth at the same time. Her earbuds were dislodged and one of them fell out of her ear which allowed her to hear the figures heavy-breathing as she felt her fighting become weaker and less coordinated. After a couple of seconds of struggling, Kimberly finally slipped into unconsciousness and the figure hefted her slim figure up against his chest. The figure then carefully dragged her across the astro, back the way he'd came, and over to a black SUV that was parked next to a disabled bay. He unlocked it using the keyring-remote and opened the back; he then shoved Kimberly's unconscious form into the back of the SUV and closed the door hurriedly.

Looking around nervously, to see if anyone had seen what had just happened, the figure quickly got into the SUV and started the engine. He took a deep breath to steady himself and tried to stop the adrenalin coursing through his system from making him do anything stupid. After a couple of minutes he reversed out of the parking space and drove off down the road, obeying the speed limit and not drawing attention to himself.

A Silver Mercedes Bentz drove past, in the opposite direction, but the driver of the Mercedes could only see the driver of the SUV and not Kimberly who was unconscious in the back.

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_**16:32pm, Park Avenue, Atlanta, Georgia**_

A black SUV passed her as it pulled out of the parking lot and she took no heed of it as she slowly pulled up beside the bin; reigning in the horses under the bonnet. Moment later, a tall woman, with platinum blonde hair, fair skin and emerald green eyes as opposed to the expected baby blue, stepped out of the silver Mercedes Bentz and began to call her daughter's name.

"Kimberly, where are you?" she called looking around herself as she took in the lack of anyone looking remotely like her daughter. As she took a step towards the bin where her daughter had last been seen; unbeknownst to her of course, she stopped abruptly as her heeled right-foot stood on something that emitted an audible 'CRACK'. Looking down she moved her foot aside and saw a, now cracked, purple i-pod on the pavement near to the bin and by the low wall that was directly in front of her. She stooped down and picked it up with a set of manicured fingers as she turned it over searching for any form of ownership, she had a duty to return it to whoever owned of course; she reasoned that it probably belonged to one of the girls on Kimerly's soccer team.

What she saw on the back however turned her blood to ice as she stared in horror at the sticky-label which sported, in neat and joined handwriting, the name of her daughter; Kimberly White.

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_**17:18pm, Atlanta Police Precinct**_

As though she had been possessed by the deceased spirit of a race-car driver, Hilary White screeched to halt in her erratic driving literally outside the police precinct where her husband worked. Without considering anything beyond how much trouble her daughter was probably in, she threw open her driver's door and launched herself out of the car and up the steps of the police precinct; ignoring the shouts from several police officers who recognised her.

She pushed her way past the throngs of people in the reception of the precinct, past the detectives coming through the door to the squad room and was at the door to her husband's office before anyone could even manage to grab her or slow her down.

"HORATIO!" she wailed, as though she were a banshee, as she flung open his door. "SOMEONE'S TAKEN KIMBERLY!"

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_**17:31pm, outside Chief White's office**_

They all silently observed from outside the privacy of the closed door of Chief White's office as the man tried to desperately console his wife with promises that they'd get their daughter back safe and sound. It probably would have been more effective if it hadn't been for the fact that the chief knew just how likely it was that he'd see his daughter again in anything other than a body bag.

"What do we do now?" Morgan asked no-one in particular as he turned away from the spectacle in the office, he didn't want to intrude on their pain and even if he was just standing and watching he felt like he was breaking a taboo or something like that.

Hotch muttered in response as Gideon silently continued to stare at the couple who were now both crying tears of despair, "We continue with the profile, if it's the unsub who's done this I'm sure we'll know soon."

"But that means she might end up dead," Prentiss exclaimed in quiet disbelief as she looked at Hotch with her own look of silent desperation and despair.

Hotch solemnly nodded his head and gave her a firm stare as he refused to look away from her face as she stared at him desperately, "I know, but if we can find him soon, we might be able to save her."

Personally Hotch doubted that they'd find the unsub before that happened but he couldn't say that to Prentiss who was looking like she was waiting for someone to tell her that her puppy had to be put down or something to that affect, and as much as Hotch detested lying, a half-lie which would serve to motivate the team wasn't as bad in his eyes as the truth that would do nothing but depress them.

Morgan silently turned away and made his way towards the conference room that was attached to the squad room where the majority of their time had been spent on the case; they didn't have enough to find this bastard but Morgan would be damned if he didn't give it a damn good try to find him.

Prentiss nodded in understanding at Hotch before also turning to follow Morgan to the conference room as JJ and Reid made a move towards it also from the other side of the room; they had been talking to some of the officers who had first responded to the murders and as a result weren't in the immediate vicinity when Hilary White had come in. But they had heard her wails of anguish from the other side of the precinct; much like every other police officer also.

Hotch stood beside Gideon and said softly, "The chances of Kimberly coming out of this alive are slim aren't they?"

Gideon didn't look at Hotch but answered as he continued to watch the White's in their grief, "She's probably already dead. She just doesn't know it yet."

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**TBC...**

**I will be finishing this entire story sometime this month since I need my dear muse to focus on my other fics so once this one is entirely complete you guys can then move on to my other Criminal Minds stories (they're probably a lot better than this one since they're both longer and have been better written... lol).**

**Enjoy**

**KaseyKC**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey there people; I didn't know whether to add more or less to this chapter so I thought 'what the hell' and made it longer than the others (meaning I shoved together several sections and called it a chapter :P).**

**Anyway, I hope anyone who's been reading this and comparing it with my old one prefers this one and will be happy to wait until I edit the next chapter (or group of sections).**

**Enjoy, KaseyKC

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_**17:54pm, Unknown Location**_

It was the smell that woke her; it was a heavy and clogging smell which caused her to gag as she blearily opened her eyes and blinked away the flashing lights that threatened to make her fall back into the oblivion of unconsciousness. She slowly looked around her, or as far as she could since she was sitting on a chair facing one direction, taking in everything that she possibly could with her still blurred vision. She took note of what looked like a digital-recording camera that was set-up on one of those stands that she and her friends could never figure out how to use properly. As her vision managed to become more precise and objects more defined she noticed the lack of a blinking red-light on the camera which would signal that it was recording, _'not a bad thing really'_ she thought as she tried to move her heavy and lead-weighted limbs only to find that they were restrained.

Though everything about the room she was in was creepy, she was able to handle it all pretty well up until the point she found she couldn't move; that was when she started to panic and felt her heart beat louder and louder in her chest.

She fearfully looked as far around her as she possibly could and heard something shuffle behind her. She squeaked out a quiet scream of fear and stuttered, "h-h-hello... w-who's t-th-there?"

But no reply was forth-coming apart from the sudden and surprising emission of the red light on the camera, which she guessed had been turned on by a remote for the camera; she remembered that her father had one of those in his study which he'd used to film someone who was black-mailing him.

Though she could not see who it was who had turned the camera on, she could definitely hear them and she flinched as she heard the sound of soft footfalls as an unseen figure approached her from behind, "p-please... l-let m-m-me go..."

For the first time since she'd awoken only moments ago the figure spoke as it roughly grabbed her hair and pulled her head up, exposing her throat to it as though it were a wild animal that was about to go for the jugular, or a vampire about to feed depending on how imaginative you were. She gasped in pain and fear as she felt her hair pull and a pain in her neck as her head was wrenched back further than she'd prefer. She looked up into the faceless mask of the last thing she'd ever see as it lifted a six-inch, silver-plated dagger with a jewel-encrusted hilt into her eye-line and gently traced the tip along her exposed throat; from ear to ear causing her to flinch and tears to start to flow from her eyes as she suddenly realised _'I'm going to die...'_

The figure stroked her cheek with the blade tip before whispering, "this is for you," as it looked directly at the camera before suddenly and ferociously slashing her cheek causing the spillage of the sweet, red source of life as she screamed out in agony.

It smiled and placed the tip just beneath her left ear and wrenched her head back again as she rocked forwards in the chair trying to master the pain; it giggled quietly but it was loud enough for her to hear, and she knew then and there, _'I'm about to die... oh mom... dad... I love you so much...'_

Here thought was justified as the figure violently slit her neck with so much force that her carotid artery expelled a sudden explosion of arterial spray and her windpipe was exposed. There was so much power in the slice that if she did not have a spinal cord her head would have been severed from her body.

"This is for you..." the figure whispered again as it roughly shoved the head of its victim forward so it came to rest on the torso of the now-dead girl. It lifted the blade up to eye-level and held it directly in view of the camera so that the dripping blood could clearly be seen as it continued, "... my dear _Spencer_..."

* * *

_**17:58pm, Conference room, Atlanta Police Precinct**_

After everything that had happened in the last hour or so the others were working extremely hard, trying to figure out what they could about this sick son of a bitch who seemed to have taken the daughter of the police chief of the station although Prentiss had made of a point when she'd said earlier that Kimberly didn't fit the profile.

Kimberly was brown-haired with a more tanned-complexion than the other victims and there was also the fact that she was younger than the other victims; true only by about two or three years but it was still something for them to question. Maybe this guy had a larger target-range but they hadn't found any of his younger victims? It was possible but not likely.

Gideon had theorised that the unsub had taken Kimberly White so that he could make a point, "I'm so good that I can take someone important and kill them and you can't stop me!" It was the unsub's way of showing his dominance, his powerfulness and highlighting how inept they were since they couldn't catch him. Bu it still made them wonder about more potential victims, as it would make anyone wonder when a killer suddenly changes their victim-profile.

The only people who weren't present in the room were Gideon, who was walking down the small corridor between the desks of the detectives in the squad room, and Reid who had left the room about five-to-ten minutes ago.

As Gideon entered he immediately noticed that Reid was absent and so duly asked, "Where's Reid?"

It was Morgan who replied as he looked up from the coroner report he'd been reading through trying to find anything that could give them any idea of this unsub, " He went to the bathroom, why?"

Before he could answer Gideon heard a quiet 'ping' that came from the small laptop on the conference table which Reid had been using to run through a couple of ideas of his, namely relating to the geographic profile to the nth term if one looked at the sheer amount of data he had been inputting into it, "He's got mail."

It was at that precise moment that Reid re-entered the conference room and asked curiously, "who's got mail?" as he moved over to the laptop that Gideon was looking at like it was an alien entity.

"You have," Gideon replied as he pointed at the little icon in the bottom corner of the screen that signalled that Reid did indeed have mail. Reid sat down in the seat he'd vacated previously and curiously clicked on the icon which turned into a full-blown screen showing that Reid had one e-mail; he quickly clicked on the e-mail and was quite surprised to find it was from someone who he didn't have in his e-mail address book. The e-mail opened up in its own pop-up and Reid blinked in confusion as a flashing link appeared that would send him to a viral video.

He looked up at Gideon who had signalled for Hotch to come over and look. Hotch looked at the link and said, "open it Reid."

Swallowing in nervous fear Reid did as instructed and clicked on the link as the others all moved over to the laptop to see an online video depicting the last moments of one Kimberly White. They watched as the unsub moved in for the kill and Kimberly finally realised she was about to die. It was when the unsub actually killed her that Morgan, Prentiss and JJ all turned to look away leaving Gideon, Hotch and Reid watching the video with emotionless looks on their faces.

They had thought the worst was over until they watched as the unsub moved to stand directly in front of the camera holding a ceremonial-looking dagger in their outstretched hand and said so softly that they had to strain to catch it, "this is for you... my dear _Spencer_..."

Though Reid logically thought that there were hundreds of thousands of people called Spencer he sincerely doubted that there were any other than him who worked for the BAU and would a target for half-crazed psychotic murderers like him. And so, with that sudden discovery Reid's face blanched and he turned whiter than the snow in the Himalayas as he launched himself from the seat he was in and out of the conference room with as much speed as he could muster whilst still in his semi-shocked state.

Hotch and Gideon turned just in time to see Reid bolt from the room and the others looked at each other as Morgan asked, "What's wrong?" as he had not heard what Hotch, Gideon and Reid had on the video.

Hotch looked at Morgan and side-stepped the question as he said, "Call Garcia and have her pull the video down, I want her to look at every aspect of it and see if it can lead us to Kimberly's killer."

As Hotch was speaking Gideon had silently left the room, following after Reid as he watched the youngest member of the team almost sprint through the squad room and towards the toilets. He ignored the curious looks of some of the detectives who had witnessed Reid's attempt to escape from whatever he'd seen and wondered why Gideon was following after him.

As Gideon pushed open the door to the toilets he heard the distinctive slamming of one of the toilet-stall doors and the subsequent sob of anguish as Reid let loose on his tears. He felt bad for Reid, he really did, but Gideon knew from experience that running away and hiding wouldn't help anyone in the long-run and it'd cause more harm than good which was why he was going to get Reid to come out and help them catch this murderer who had just justified the death of Kimberly White by offering it as a gift to Reid, _'why is this unsub so fascinated with Reid?'_

"Spencer?" Gideon asked softly as he leaned against the sinks in the toilets, his back to the mirrors, facing the toilet-stalls, "Spencer please, come out so we can talk."

Reid didn't want to talk, he couldn't talk; he felt too guilty. He felt like his heart was being ripped out and stomped on by this unsub and he felt like he had sliced the throat of Kimberly White himself! "No... l-leave m-me alone... p-pl-please..." he sobbed out as he felt the tears start to roll down his cheeks with renewed vigour.

"There wasn't anything you could have done to stop this Spencer, but you might be able to prevent another death so come out!" Gideon said his voice becoming stronger and more forceful as he spoke until it ended with a sharp order which gained Reid's attention.

Slowly Gideon's words registered in Reid's mind and he thought to himself, _'he's right... I need to fix this... I need to make this right and I can't do that hiding away in here!' _as he wiped the tears in his eyes and slowly stood up from where he'd been hunched over sitting on the toilet. He took a deep breath and swallowed as he unlocked the door and stepped out to look directly at Gideon.

Gideon only nodded encouragingly and Reid felt thankful that he wasn't going to ask him anything, it would make things a lot easier. He quickly washed his face to try and rid himself of the sickly pallor his skin had gained after watching the video, _'oh God her scream...'_ and to wash away any traces of his tears,_ 'she was crying... begging for mercy... to live!' _and looked at Gideon before nodding in silent acknowledgement of Gideon's unasked question. He was ready to do this. He was ready to fix this... _'I'm going to finish this once and for all!'

* * *

_

_**18:35pm, Conference room, Atlanta Police Precinct**_

The atmosphere in the conference room was subdued and ominous BAU continued looking at the various aspects of the Unsub's messed-up psyche. They all had silently agreed to focus on what they were uniquely best at; Morgan was going over the movements of the unsub in the homes, since they reasoned that he needed to have stalked his victims to learn their routine so he could know the best time to take and kill them; Prentiss was looking at the victim-profiles as she tried to find specific markers that would help them narrow-down the unsub's target-range; JJ was arranging various press conferences with the media and going over what she was and wasn't going to say so she could try and goad the unsub into giving himself away; Hotch was reading through the police reports from several cases that looked like they could have been precursors to such violent behaviour and might be of use when trying to catch their unsub; and Gideon was going over everything they had so far as he tried to compile a more defined profile, down-grading certain aspects of the profile whilst up-grading others.

Reid himself was sitting in absolute and deathly silence as he went over the video he'd been sent trying to find anything, anything at all, which could be used to catch this unsub. He had resolutely refused anyone helping him with this and had even argued that Garcia already had the video and would be doing the same things as him so no-one else needed to waste time looking at it, though in truth the only reason he didn't want them to watch it with him was because he truly thought that if anyone said anything in an attempt to console him he might snap and lose it; which wouldn't help anyone.

Though the visual quality wasn't all the great you could still make out the silhouette of the unsub and Kimberly's terrified face pretty well thanks to the dim bulb that hung from the centre of the room; at least, he guessed it was room due to the sound reverberations which told him it was not bigger than 8 metres wide and about 10 metres in length. He reminded himself to send a Christmas card to one of his old friends at CalSci; their mathematical jargon was coming in handy now.

Sound! _'Of course! The sound!'_ Reid could have hit himself for his blind ignorance, _'Garcia's going to focus on the visual because she had the technology to clean it up, but I can focus on the sound now!'_

Quickly Reid turned the volume up as high it could possibly go on the laptop, and plugged in the set of headphones he had with him which would make it ten-times easier to distinguish between sounds in the conference room and sounds of the video. He tried to block out what Kimberly's terrified voice and the unsub's soft voice were saying as he focused on the ambient, or background, sounds in the video. If he was right then he could hear the faint sound of horns and traffic as well as what might be _'are they trains?'_

Deciding that this could be of great importance Reid paused the video and pulled the headphones off his head as he looked up and called out to Gideon and Hotch who looked at him curiously.

"I think I've got something," Reid explained as Gideon and Hotch both came over to stand beside him, "I've listened to the audio of the video and I heard what sounded to be traffic and trains so wherever this video was filmed might be near a train station or any train tracks near to any densely populated areas."

Gideon nodded and Hotch pulled out his cellphone and immediately called Garcia who picked up as quickly as she always did, answering with a saucy, "talk dirty to me and I'll give you what you want baby."

Hotch decided to refrain from mentioning the fact that as a federal employee she shouldn't really answer the phone in that manner but he decided to forego it as he said firmly, "Garcia, I need you to triangulate where this video link came from and cross-reference it with any areas that have either train tracks, a train station and high levels of traffic okay?"

Garcia squeaked out a quick, "yes sir, sorry sir," as she realised that she had just spoken to her boss in such a dirty manner. She was mortified... Morgan had said he'd call her if they needed anything! Why hadn't it been Morgan to call her! Damn it!

Hotch waited for a long moment and was about to hang up when Garcia exclaimed sadly, "I can give you a general search radius, but that's all sir; the IPs been disconnected. And I've cross-referenced the link's trail with any locations that are near train stations and freeways; I've come up with several in a single area."

Hotch nodded and said, "Okay Garcia, where about exactly?"

Garcia typed away for a moment before answering quickly, "Somewhere in the area of Carey Park. I'm sending a list of places which probably have rooms like the one on the video to your PDA sir."  
"Thanks Garcia," Hotch hung up and waited for the quiet beep and subsequent buzz that would signal that Garcia had sent the required information to his PDA. He looked at the others and said to them, "Garcia's narrowed it down for us to a general search area around Carey Park. She's also sent a list of possible places where the unsub could be."

"Carey Park's near a train station isn't it?" JJ asked as she looked around at everyone.

"It also has a high level of traffic so it's our best bet," Hotch answered as he nodded at her, "We're going to need more information so we'll have to wait and see what his next move is before we make ours," it was a feeble excuse for not doing anything but there wasn't much they could really do, if they went door to door and the killer lived in the area they would give them a warning and if they went public it would create even more panic. The best thing they could do was nothing.

Morgan glared and bunched his hands into fists, he hated feeling useless and although he knew that if they went out there now they could possibly cause the unsub to run or go on a killing spree which was not what they wanted... but it didn't stop him from hating the idea of waiting for the bastard's next move.

Reid silently got up and left the room, not looking at anyone on the way out. He continued on through the precinct and out onto the street without as much as a single glance at anyone in particular. He needed the fresh air that the side-walk presented him with and took a deep breath. He needed to be out of that room, away from painful memories that came flooding back every time he thought of Sarah or Michael; he had to focus on the task in hand and stop thinking of them as anything but victim and unsub, but that was easier said than done as he recalled one memory in particular when Reid was only eight years of age.

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . **

_It was a murky sort of Monday morning just after ten when three small silhouettes appeared at the end of the street as they made their way away from their homes laughing and joking with each other; perfectly at ease with each other. Two boys, one girl. Spencer Reid, Sarah and Michel Clarkson; all young and naive, all innocent and all good friends._

_As it was for Spencer Reid it was a rare occurrence that he left his home for anything other than school or when he needed to go and get the shopping so the fact that he was out of the house not doing either of those things made the entire experience all the more memorable; even if he would never forget it due to his eidetic memory._

"_Come on Spence," Sarah softly giggled as he lagged behind her and her brother, her voice was always so soft and musically that Reid could never imagine her voice ever being any different and he didn't want to change either; it was one of the things that made him love her so much. Her voice was so unlike his mother's and so unlike all the other children in school which was probably why he valued her friendship so much; she was a gentle soul and her voice echoed that fact._

"_I _am_ coming Sarah," Reid replied quietly as he caught up with them, bearing in mind that he wasn't wearing the same style shoes they were and his sneakers were slipping on the still muddy ground from last nights downpour. He too had a quiet and soft voice but his was more to do with the fact that the quieter you were the less obvious you became to the bullies and it helped to soothe his mother when she had one of her episodes._

_In silence then they all walked on level with each other to the end of the street and turned right where they saw what they had been heading towards for the last twenty-five minutes. There in front of them was a small gathering of trees, a magical-forest as Sarah liked to call it, but she also believed that the wood nymphs were playing hide-and-seek so Reid was fine with calling it a wood._

_Looking at each other they shared a grin and set off at a sprint towards the trees. They sprinted into the trees and weaved in and out of them laughing joyously as they forgot any of the troubles of their lives and lost themselves in the magic of the forest. But whilst they were lost in the magic they forgot about the one thing which they all should have remembered; the twelve-foot drop off the cliff that separated the small section of trees they were in and the majority of the forest which had been planted to the north of the estate their lived on. It was this drop, this miniature cliff that caused Sarah to scream as she suddenly burst out of the trees followed by a laughing Reid and found that the ground beneath her feet was no more._

_She screamed in fear and felt herself falling through the air, down to her death, when her fall was suddenly halted as a hand wrapped itself around her wrist like a vice. Looking up at the person who had saved her Sarah gasped as she saw Reid desperately gripping her hand with all his strength as he tried to stop her from falling to her death._

Wow he's strong!

"_Don't let go Spence! Please!" she sobbed as she tried to reach out towards the edge of the cliff and get a decent enough hold so she could help in pulling her up. She could see how hard it was for Reid to not let go but she trusted him with her life, she knew he'd never let go no matter what._

"_I won't, I promise," Spence said through gritted teeth as the muscles in his arms and chest protested against the sudden assault upon them, but he refused to let go. He would not let go!_

"_MICHAEL!" he shouted as he started to pull Sarah up with every ounce of strength that he had in his body, "MICHAEL!"_

_Michael had heard Reid's desperate calls and had come running, arriving when Reid felt his grip on Sarah's wrist starting to weaken and had immediately sprung into action. He'd dived across and crawled to edge of the cliff next to Reid and had reached out and gripped Sarah's free hand and together he and Reid had pulled Sarah to safety. _

_Reid threw himself back and lay flat on the ground trying to get his breath back and ignore his aching muscles when Sarah knelt down next to him and whispered gently, "__Oh my god thanks Spence you saved my life! I don't know what I can do to ever repay you," She leaned over and gave him a quick peck on the cheek._

_That had been the first kiss he'd ever had from Sarah and it hadn't been the last because after that she'd become his self-professed boyfriend; not that he was against the idea of course._

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . **

He shook his head sadly as he tried to dispel such painful memories and focus on the case but he found that he just couldn't stop thinking about Sarah and Michael. He understood why she was doing this, he knew that this was all his fault and he knew that it was his responsibility to stop it all.

"Oh God Sarah, why didn't you come to me?" he whispered as he felt a single tear break free and roll down his cheek. He didn't bother wiping it off as he slowly turned to make his way back into the police precinct. And as he opened the door he didn't notice the loan figure standing just inside the alleyway opposite the police precinct watching him and crying tears also; though not tears of sadness. These were tears of anguish and pain.

* * *

**TBC...**

**This actually made five pages on Word you know! That's amazing for me! *happy dance* **

**Okay, sorry, just a little mad moment there. Hope you enjoyed and tell me... is this one better than the original?**

**KaseyKC**


	5. Chapter 5

**Well people; I needed something to do as my connectivity was being beyond evil and I couldn't get on line to do much which meant that I edited these next three sections and shoved them together to give you another chapter to read... you do realise that this story is actually now longer than the original? It makes me so happy :P**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy and will continue to read as and when I update.**

**KaseyKC

* * *

**

_**22:45pm, Conference Room, Atlanta Police Precinct**_

The team had been hard at work all day and when the clock almost signalled that it was eleven o'clock at night it was decided that sleep would be the next thing they would all work on as it they needed to get some shut-eye if they wanted to be functioning properly tomorrow.

"I need to sleep," JJ yawned as she dropped her notes on the table and stretched, "I think we all need some sleep," she added as she looked at Hotch pointedly.

Hotch took the point and said to everyone, "JJ's right, we need to get some sleep so we can review the profile tomorrow."

Morgan and Prentiss both smiled in tired relief as they too dropped their notes onto the conference table and stood up, stretching their tired muscles as they did so. The two of them along with JJ all quickly tidied their notes up before clearing the table off as best they could and then grabbed their jackets that were on the backs of their chairs. They slipped their jackets on and started making their way over to the door to the conference room as Hotch and Gideon both began to tidy up their stuff also.

Hotch looked at Gideon and then over at Reid who had not moved from his position at the table and was still looking intensely at his notes. Gideon nodded back and Hotch continued packing up his things as Gideon moved over to Reid and asked, "Reid?"

Reid didn't look up as he answered, for fear that Gideon would see in his eyes what he dreaded, and said quickly, "I just want to go over this one more time Gideon, then I'll go get some sleep; I promise."

Gideon knew, without having to look in those revealing orbs that Reid was hiding something that he didn't want anyone to know, and he also knew that if he pushed then Reid would do one of two things; he'd either clam up and not say a word, or he'd blow a fuse and use his advanced vocabulary to try and tear him apart. And since Gideon didn't want either of those things to happen he had to concede defeat and wait for Reid to trust him enough to actually tell him what he knew; he only hoped that it wouldn't be too late.

"Okay Reid, just make sure you're not still here when we come back in the morning," Gideon warned as he patted Reid gently on the shoulder, before turning away and picking up his coat and leaving the room with Hotch.

It was maybe five-to-ten minutes later that Reid managed to look up without thinking that Gideon was hiding behind the door or something waiting to catch him out, and stared out of the window which gave him a spectacular view of a street-lamp. The view was to die for he was sure but it wasn't what he was really seeing anymore. No, he was peering into the darkest recesses of his mind, into one of the parts that he rarely ventured in the hopes of finding something that could either vindicate his fears or justify his theory.

He remembered something from a long time ago, so many years ago, and he blinked suddenly as he realised that it was one of things he had blatantly over-looked. He leaned forward in his chair and looked through his scribbled notes as he focused on Sarah and her brother's closeness; they were so close, more so than most siblings he realised, 'If Michael ever went somewhere Sarah would follow and vice versa! Why didn't I think of this earlier?' Maybe what she was doing wasn't only for Reid; maybe it was for Michel also, 'maybe she's making up for the fact that she can't follow him now... not unless she kills herself or gets killed... maybe that's why she's doing this... death by cop?' He recalled that Michel had had a girlfriend before he died, Lucy… something... did he even know her last name? Was he ever introduced to her? Damn! He couldn't remember! 'This is the problem with repressed memories, when you want to remember them they're impossible to recall!'

He did however remember what she looked like because he remembered thinking when he'd first met her 'wow, she looks a hell of a lot like Sarah!' so that could also be another tick in the box that these murders were for Michael too. But what was her last name?

Finally giving in to his tiredness, which had been plaguing him for the last... whatever number of minutes, he checked his watch to see what time it was and was shocked to see that it showed it was 11:35. 'Wow... I need to get some sleep if I didn't even realise an hour had passed!' he thought as he slowly stood up and stretched his stiff muscles. He looked down at the mess he'd made on the table which mostly comprised of paper strewn about and random scrawlings which he couldn't make heads-nor-tails of; and it was his own handwriting no less!

He quickly grabbed his satchel and shoved in the papers, trying to get them in a pile that looked somewhat like it was neat and ordered, but he forgot to grab his ringed notebook which he'd been scribbling in since it was underneath one of the case files. Once he managed to shove all the paper into his satchel he sealed it and threw it over his shoulder before grabbing his jacket, which he didn't bother putting on since he was still wearing his sleeveless jumper and a long-sleeved shirt so the cold of the night wouldn't bother him during the quick journey to the hotel.

He switched the lights off in the conference room and nodded to one or two of the night-shift detectives who were at their desks looking like they wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep, and left the precinct via the main front doors. Looking again at his watch he noticed that it was 11:45 so he'd have to hurry since he knew that the hotel would close its bar at midnight and the main reception doors would also be locked at the same time as the bar closed; if he wanted to get in and get some sleep then he needed to get there fast!

Outside the precinct he cut across the road and started to walk down alley opposite the precinct that would save him about ten minutes so he'd get to the hotel quicker. As he walked down the dimly lit alley Reid wasn't really aware of much since he was still thinking about Sarah and Michael and the victims, 'I don't know how she turned out this way... it makes no sense!' and so, he never noticed the hooded figure that silently stepped out behind him holding in one of its gloved hands chloroform-soaked cloth; not until it was over his mouth at least.

When the cloth covered his mouth and a strong, powerful arm wrapped itself around his neck and shoulders Reid panicked and tried to simultaneously reach for his weapon and try to prise the hand with the cloth over his mouth away. But he found his weapon holster empty as he heard the sound of the weapon being cocked and his other hand couldn't remove the unsub's hand over his mouth; he inhaled the choking smell of chloroform and all sense of reason abandoned him as he fought desperately against the unsub but he could feel his limbs growing heavier and becoming lead-weighted. He could feel his mind starting to become numb and his grip on consciousness fade away from him as he disconnectedly felt himself being dragged along the alley.

There was a black SUV at the other end of the alley and just as he went under he managed to see another figure climb out of the driver's side and walk over to him; even with his weakening vision he could still make out the face on this new figure and it was then that he realised that they had been wrong. So, so wrong.

* * *

_**8:25am, Conference Room, Atlanta Police Precinct**_

When they had woken up at the hotel at seven-thirty for breakfast, Gideon and Hotch had realised that Reid wasn't there and both duly looked like they could happily throttle the boy genius if they saw him. When they reached the police precinct around eight-thirty Hotch had immediately gone to talk to the deputy chief, who was taking over for Chief White until he came back from compassionate leave, to see if he'd seen Reid this morning. Gideon however had made his way straight to the conference room and looked around it to find no recent evidence that Reid had been in there working.

"Morgan, is Reid in the toilets?" Gideon asked as Morgan came back from quickly using the toilets, apparently he'd forgotten the golden rule of travelling; go to the loo before you set off just to make sure.

Morgan stopped and looked at Gideon then looked around taking in the state of the conference room; the cups that were lined up next to the coffee-machine and the still messy area Reid had been working at last night, before answering, "No Gideon. I thought he pulled an all-nighter since I didn't hear him in our room last night. Where is he?"

"I don't know Derek," Gideon answered sadly as he walked over to the section of the conference table where Reid had been working last night. He looked at the bits and pieces of paper with writing on them that was so small that Gideon needed to fish out his glasses from his pocket to even have a hope of deciphering what was written. He picked up the case file that was on the table and noticed that it had been covering something; a ringed-notebook just like the one that Reid used when he wanted to make a couple of private notes and such.

Gideon slowly flipped it open as Hotch came in and started talking, but he didn't take any note of what was being said as he flicked through the pages; taking in the various notes and things that Reid had written in his diary, for want of a better word. Some of it was quite fascinating and justified the fact that Reid was a genius but others bits of it were purely childish; such as the picture of Morgan dressed as a clown from one of their earliest cases together. He continued to flick through the pages until he came across a recently written portion and he realised that this was the page Reid had been writing on last night. He read what was written in Reid's mostly unintelligible handwriting;

"_**She thinks that she owes me for saving her life all those years ago... she doesn't owe me... but why didn't she tell me what happened to her? Did she think I wouldn't care? Did she think I would just turn away and leave her alone?**_

_**Is she repaying her debt to me with these murders? Does she think that this is the only way she can thank me? God I hope not! All those people... all those deaths... they're my fault... I'm to blame...**_

_**Or is she doing this for another reason? Is this for Michael and not me? Those girls all look like her... but they look like Lucy too...**_

_**Lucy... Harris? Harrington? Harvard? I can't remember what her last name! **_

_**Garcia mentioned Carey Park earlier... it's got some storage facilities near there... and a warehouse number 24600... oh God! The victims! Their ages! **_

_**Victim 1: aged 24**_

_**Victim 2: aged 26**_

_**Victim 3: aged 20**_

_**Victim 4: aged 20**_

_**Kimberly didn't fit the pattern because she's not part of that pattern! Why didn't I see it before! I should tell Gideon... no... I'll tell him tomorrow when we can call Garcia and make sure... we can't provoke the unsub... it'd be too dangerous.**_

_**I don't think I'll go the normal route to the hotel... it's too late and I won't get there in time otherwise... I'll cut through the alley opposite the precinct; it's not that long and it'll save me time..."**_

Hotch came over to Gideon and looked over his shoulder at what he was reading; Gideon looked at Hotch and pointed to a specific line which Hotch read carefully before turning to Morgan and saying, "Morgan, get Disart and find out if Reid took the alley short-cut on his way to the hotel."

"On it Hotch," Morgan nodded as he left the room and went to find Disart so he could help find his friend.

As Hotch continued to give out orders to everyone Gideon opened his cell phone and rang Garcia, "Garcia, I need you to check someone Michael Clarkson's records and see if there's any mention of a Lucy Harris, Harrington or Harvard alright?"

"Of course Gideon," Garcia replied as she typed away and pulled up searches for all three names and cross-referenced them with Michael Clarkson's records, "I've got a hit on a Lucy Harvard; she was Michael's girlfriend at the time of the crash. She was listed as his emergency contact."

"Do you have an address for her?" Gideon pressed as he listened to Hotch talk.

"We'll go to Carey Park and see if we can find this warehouse Reid's mentioned, Gideon are you checking on the girlfriend?" Hotch asked him as he JJ and Prentiss nodded and left the conference room. Gideon nodded and Hotch continued, "Alright. Make sure you take a uniformed officer with you."

"Of course," Gideon replied as Garcia finally finished her search and gave him the listed address of one Lucy Harvard, "Thanks Garcia."

Gideon and Hotch both left the conference room at the same time and made their way through the precinct; Gideon stopping to grab one of the uniformed officers to take with him to the residence of Lucy Harvard. Hotch climbed into the FBI SUV that Emily and JJ were already in before heading off towards Carey Park; Gideon climbed into the passenger seat of the black-and-white police-cruiser and he too set off for his final destination.

* * *

_**9:23am, Unknown Location**_

It must be horrible for a person to wake up without knowing where they are and not being able to recognise anything because all they could see was nothing; an unending blackness that served to heighten the other senses and paralyse the blind when they found they could smell the coppery-scent of blood and hear the heart-stopping sound of quiet, laboured breathing from somewhere in the shadows. This then was what Spencer Reid was experiencing as he tried to rid himself of the cotton-wool feeling in his mind and not panic at the same time as his senses acknowledged some less than preferred things.

He moved his head slightly and winced at the lancing pain that ran along his left temple; he tried to think back to what would have caused such pain and that was when he remembered what had happened. He remembered walking down the alley... he remembered being grabbed... he remembered seeing the face of someone he hadn't seen in years... he remembered waking up sometime later... he remembered how he'd started to hit the SUV sides and... and he remembered how he'd been hit with something which had clouded his mind again and sent him back to the world of unconsciousness.

He tried to move his arms as his heart-beat sped up but he found, with a sickening level of clarity, that he couldn't move! He was tied up! Unbidden by him flashes of his time with Tobias Hankel made their way to the forefront of his mind and he tried desperately not to hyperventilate. No! This couldn't be happening again! It just couldn't! 'Oh God... help me...'

Just when he thought that he was about to pass out from his lack of correct breathing the blindfold which had made him blind was suddenly removed and he gasped in pain as the bright light of a halogen bulb shone into his sensitive retinas. He felt someone grab his hair and pull his head back but he couldn't open his eyes yet to see them because his eyes had become fireballs of agony as the neurons were over-run with electrical signals from the stimulus of a bright light.

It was when he heard a soft voice in his eye that he almost opened his eyes in shock, regardless of the pain, "Hey Spence... Remember me?"

He slowly opened his eyes and blinked several times before resorting to squinting so that he could just make out the figure standing over him, looking down as they held his hair tightly in their hand. He opened his mouth to speak but the figures other hand came up and covered his mouth making him freeze in fear. The figure leaned in closer and said softly, "Because I remember you Spence..." as the face became more defined and Reid's eyes opened wide in shock and fear.

* * *

**TBC...**

**Unfortunately this didn't go past the three page mark on Word but it was really close to being four pages... oh well; I might be able to make up for that with the next chapter :P**

**Anyway, review and tell me what you think of it all... **

**KaseyKC**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey there, looks like I felt the sudden urge to edit some more of this fic and so this is what you get! I think this is probably better than the original, even if you exclude the new length of it, I personally think that it's more... in depth and more explanative than the original.**

**Anyway, hope you enjoy; I might edit the next few sections today or tomorrow, it just depends.**

**KaseyKC

* * *

**

_**9:35am, Lucy Harvard's Residence**_

When Gideon reached the home of Lucy Harvard he desperately hoped that she would be able to help him and the team in finding their missing resident-genius, _'she's got to have something for us... we need to find Reid...'_

He took in the house as he walked along the small path up to the porch steps and climbed them. The house wasn't flashy or fancy, but it still told you that someone pretty well-off lived there; it just wasn't in your face about it. He stood in front of the door and knocked loudly on the treated-oak door before waiting for a response from inside.

The problem was however that no response from the occupant inside would ever come and so Gideon, after waiting a good ten minutes, decided to do a bit of snooping. He walked back down the porch steps and over to the side of the house trying to see if there was a side-gate he could go through to get round the back of the house, and as luck would have it there was. Gideon looked back at the uniformed officer, who was leaning against the hood of the cruiser trying to look like he was doing something worth his pay-check, before making his way over to the side-gate; he found that it was unlocked which immediately peaked his suspicious mind. He undid the catch on his gun holster and looked back at the uniformed officer as he motioned for him to come over.

The uniformed officer immediately came over to Gideon, drawing his weapon as he did so, and the pair of them stepped through the side-gate and slowly made their way around the side of the house until they came to the back door; which was ajar slightly.

Gideon motioned for the officer to stand on the other side of the door and he cautiously pushed the sliding door open enough for them to slip through. Together they quickly cleared the kitchen, front room, downstairs hallway and were about to ascend the stairs when Gideon noticed that the front door hadn't been forced, _'maybe she went out somewhere and forgot about the back door?'_ he reasoned as they moved slowly and quietly up the stairs.

The cleared the first three rooms, including the main bathroom, and then they reached the master-bedroom. The officer pushed the door open and Gideon entered before the officer and was met by a grizzly sight, _'damn...'_

"Oh my God!" The officer breathed as he took in the sight of one Lucy Harvard, deceased, posed on the four-poster, double-bed, surrounded by photographs of her and the victims, in varying degrees of mutilation.

Gideon sadly pulled out his cellphone and called Hotch to tell him the bad news, they were indeed on the right track but they didn't have any clue as to where Reid was.

* * *

_**9:42am, Unknown Location**_

Reid stared into the face of a person he'd thought long-since gone from this world with continued shock and fear as he tried to desperately figure out how he could have survived what happened, "Michael! You're... you're- the crash-"

"Yes Spencer, everyone thought I'd died in the crash along with my parents. Well I'm sorry to disappoint but that wasn't the case; I was never in the car to start with," Michael smirked as Reid looked at in dumb amazement.

"Although technically, part of him did die that day Spence... his fear," a gentle and slightly manic-sounding voice echoed out softly around the room, "but you wouldn't know about that would you Spence?"

Reid tired to look around himself but found that his vision was hampered by both his head injury and also the figure of Michael who was blocking the majority of the room that he could see. He did however hear the sound of light, fluttery footsteps behind him coming closer and closer until the face of Sarah Clarkson appeared above him sporting a half-crazed grin.

"If that crash hadn't of happened I might have had been able to really repay you for saving my life Spence but you weren't around when I needed help and was put in foster-care," Sarah came round so she was standing in front of Reid and crouched down so she was on level with him, "but, that's the past. What I really want to do is thank you for giving me something to focus my anger and hurt on."

"Thank me?" Reid repeated hollowly as Sarah leant in closer and smiled widely at him. He could feel his pulse start to quicken; an unsub from a working team wanted to thank him and he really didn't want to know in what way they'd _thank him_, but he needed to keep them talking for as long as possible. That way he could stave off the torture that he just knew was going to follow this little chat.

"Oh yes Spence," Sarah ran one of her feathery-soft fingertips along the length of Reid's jaw before bring it to a halt over his lips, "I need to thank you since if you hadn't had joined the FBI's BAU then I wouldn't have been able to repay you the way I have," she smiled as Reid's eyes widened in shock, he was right that she was killing for him.

Still smiling Sarah leaned in close until her face was less than a centimetre away from Reid's own, her breath hot on his face and her eyes staring madly into his. She whispered breathily, "and I know the best way to thank you," as she closed the distance between them and began to passionately kiss him with a dominating powerfulness that Reid, in his restrained state, could do nothing to oppose her.

When Sarah eventually stopped in her possessive control of Reid's mouth she stepped back and moved over to a table that was off to the side; Reid meanwhile was trying to control his breathing which had become erratic. Sarah picked up something off the table top and said softly, "I think it's time to get down to business don't you Michael?"

"Most definitely sister," Michael answered quietly as he moved away from Reid and made room for Sarah to be able to circle around her prey without any barriers stopping her.

Reid looked from Michael to Sarah and felt like passing out when he saw what Sarah held in her now outstretched hand; it was the same dagger that he'd watched her use to slaughter Kimberly White, _'Oh no... I'm so dead...'_

Suddenly Sarah dived at Reid, causing him to flinch in terror afraid that she was about to impale him with the dagger, but it was not to be as Sarah settled herself on his lap and positioned herself so that she was on level with his face and the dagger was resting lightly over his heart, "Now now Spence, I won't finish this right now, I want to show you how much I appreciate you first," Sarah giggled insanely as she gripped Reid's hair and pulled his head back roughly forcing him to look directly into her eyes and no longer being able to move his head when she brought the tip of the blade up close to his eye but trailed it along his cheek; pressing hard enough with it to leave an angry red line down the length of his cheek and a slight cut on his chin.

"No, I want this to last a long time," She corrected as she continued to move the blade down until it rested just below his sternum. She laughed lightly as she pressed harder with it and drew it down to his naval, slicing through the sleeveless jumper and long-sleeved shirt he was wearing. He whimpered in pain as he felt blood starting to push itself out of the new incision she'd just drawn down his chest but he refused to shout or beg or anything else, he wouldn't give her that satisfaction.

* * *

_**10:12am, Conference Room, Atlanta Police Precinct**_

Gideon had returned to the Conference Room to met with Morgan who had finished in his search of the alley to come up with Reid's satchel, some tyre-treads at the other end of the alley, paint-scrapings and what looked to be a disturbance in the rubbish in the alley which signalled some sort of fight took place when the unsub tried to take Reid_, 'the kid didn't just let them take him, he tried to fight...'_ Morgan thought as he looked at Gideon and growled, "We've got no leads Gideon! How the hell are we meant to find Reid with nothing!"

Gideon sighed as he sat down forlornly in one of the empty chairs around the conference table and stared at nothing in particular. He didn't want to think of what would happen if they couldn't get to Reid in time, or if they couldn't find him full-stop, but Morgan's question was weighing heavily on his mind and his heart.

"Gideon?" Morgan looked at Gideon in mild worry, trying to temper his anger and not take it out on the nearest available person, "how are we going to find him?"

"Have you identified what tyre make the treads came from yet?" Gideon asked suddenly, throwing himself into searching for Reid with a sudden enthusiasm that would probably scare those who did not know him as well as Morgan and the team.

"Yeah, and the paint scraping's too; the tyre treads are a match to one of the commonly used brands for SUVs and the paint is a midnight black, like our SUVs," Morgan answered as he stopped for a moment to think over the stuff they did have; it might not give them Reid's location at the wave of a wand but it was a start, not a good one but a start nonetheless.

"Circulate a description for a black SUV around the Carey Park area and have Garcia cross-reference names with the owners, and users, of storage warehouses near too warehouse 24600," Gideon said as he stood up again and moved over to the large map that had been pinned on a board by Reid when they'd first arrived and he'd started on the geographical profile.

"On it," Morgan said, glad to have something to do that would actually make him feel like he was doing all he could to help find Reid. He left the room quickly but briefly glanced back at Gideon was still staring at the map on the board with a strange sort of intensity that Morgan had rarely seen before on the face of his mentor.

Unbeknownst to Morgan the reason for Gideon's intense look was because he was furiously looking at the entire area of Carey Park as he thought to himself, _'we're coming Reid, we're going to find you... I promise, just hang on son.'

* * *

_**TBC...**


	7. Chapter 7

**Alright, I've edited more of this (and there is now only a small bit left until this is completely finished). I hope you people have liked the re-vamp since I think it's made it better to read and such.**

**KaseyKC**

_**11:38am, Unknown Location**_

'_Oh my god... don't beg... don't beg... don't-'_

"Sarah... please..." he croaked as she drew the sharp and already bloodied blade along his collar bones; slicing the thin layer of epidermis over them, releasing his life blood in gushing spouts of dark, crimson-red.

"What Spence?" Sarah breathed into his ear as she rested on his lap, one of her hands running through his hair almost playfully until she gripped the strands and wrenched his head back with a great deal of force, causing him to gasp and stifle a moan of pain as the sliced skin on his collar bones stretched and more blood drove from them in a constant torrent of sticky warmth.

Sarah laughed airily and Reid resisted the urge to try and move his head as she leaned in close and licked his cheek; lapping up the drying blood from the cut just above his hair-line like a cat laps up cream.

"Sarah... you don't need... to do this..." Reid whispered as he wriggled his hands slightly to see if the ropes tying him were any looser than what they had been five minutes ago; nope, still as tight as they had been an hour ago, "think about it... I'm a federal agent... you'll get the death penalty if you're caught..."

Sarah looked directly into Reid's eyes, silent for a moment, and Reid honestly believed that he'd got through to her until she laughed maliciously and placed the tip of the blade on his lips, pressing down until Reid had to open his mouth as the blade sliced into the tissue of his lower lip. She slid the blade into his mouth and Reid didn't dare try and move for fear of looking like the Joker when this was all done, she smiled at him; a slow and deliberate smile that spoke of untold agony and pain and suffering yet to assail him, as she pressed the blade down on his tongue and drew it back out slowly, leaving a shallow cut along his tongue which made Reid's eyes water and his muscles tense up as he valiantly tried to not move his head in any way.

"The operative word in what you've just said Spence is 'if'. If I'm caught..." Sarah waved the blade in front of Reid's face and if Sarah hadn't still had a hand in his hair gripping it and stopping him from moving his head, he would have jerked away as the blade came dangerously close to his nose and then his eye, "do you really think I'd be caught?"

Whilst Sarah laughed Reid realised that it was pointless trying to reason with her, she was too far gone in her insanity, and so he decided that if you can't persuade him to join you and you're not ever going to join them then the next best thing is to annoy the hell out of them.

"Don't flatter yourself Sarah," Reid whispered, loud enough for her to hear and she stopped laughing as he continued to speak, "there have been better serial's than you and they've all be caught; you're not so special."

Sarah's face darkened and Reid thought to himself, _'oh I'm definitely dead now...'_ as she slashed across his chest with the blade, slicing deeper than she had done before, and causing him to scream in absolute agony. She slashed his chest again, and again, and again, and Reid screamed each time; getting weaker and weaker as the blood flowed and the heart stuttered. She screeched and shouted and cursed and slashed, and he cried and he wept and he screamed and he bled until a strong but quiet voice echoed around the room not unlike the Phantom of the Opera's voice had in the Opera Theatre House in Paris in that film by Webber.

"Enough Sarah... he needs to still be able to breathe by tonight," the voice of Michael Clarkson echoed around the room and Sarah slowly deceased in her almost relentless assault on the bound and helpless Spencer Reid.

Reid was too disorientated from the blood loss and in too much pain to realise that Sarah had left her perch on his lap and was cleaning the blade off with a cloth on the table on the other side of them; what he did realise though was the fact that he wasn't going to last much longer and he belatedly realised that he had brought this on himself. Every action has an equal reaction... and the reaction to saving Sarah's life was this, the ending of his own.

"Gideon..." he whispered, his voice so weak and so quiet that Sarah didn't hear him as he hung his head, no longer held up by Sarah's hand in his hair, "Gideon... help me... please..."

_**11:56am, Conference Room, Atlanta Police Precinct**_

Gideon's eyes snapped open and he sprung forward in his chair, gripping the arms like they were a lifeline. He looked around himself and blinked as the last dredges of his exhausted slumber disappeared, taking the shadowy figures and the haunting faces with it. Leaning backwards slowly Gideon ran a hand along his brow and frowned when it came away slick with cold sweat; so it had been just a nightmare.

He had only closed his eyes for a few minutes to try and rest his eyes and to still the pounding in his head but it seemed that he'd dozed off and no-one had woken him; how much time had he wasted sleeping whilst Reid was God-knows-where?

There was no Morgan in the room so Gideon guessed that he was either talking to one of the detectives or on the loo, either way Gideon just wanted to know what had been happening during his impromptu sleep. Fishing out his cellphone which was on silent he hit the speed dial for Hotch and waited for him to pick-up.

Hotch answered his cellphone almost immediately and said, in his usual professional tone of voice, "SSA Aaron Hotchner speaking."

Gideon ignored the urge to smile at Hotch's tone of voice, 'you can definitely tell he was a lawyer once, can't you?' and decided to get directly to the point, "Aaron. What have you got?"

Hotch replied in his usual tone of voice but it was a bit softer and more understanding, "Reid was right about a storage facility near Warehouse 24600. The owner says that there are twenty-five people who rent spaces privately and we're sifting through them to try and narrow down the list of suspects."

"Do any of them own a midnight black SUV?" Gideon asked, "they would've been there around one o'clock this morning and probably haven't left yet."

Aaron dutifully asked the owner and replied to Gideon with, "Yes. Three of his renters own black SUVs but only one of them came in the middle of the night and hasn't left yet."

"Okay, Morgan and I will be there along with a full S.W.A.T team," Gideon said firmly, he wasn't going to wait here whilst Reid was still in danger; no, he couldn't, he wouldn't, do that.

Morgan had entered the conference room as Gideon was hanging up, so he had heard what Gideon had said, and he said, "I'll get Disart to assemble a team now."

Gideon nodded and added, "it's the storage facility next to Warehouse 24600," he watched as Morgan left the room and again and thought to himself _'hold on Reid... we're coming... hold on...'_

_**12:22pm, Billy's Storage Facility by Warehouse 24600, Atlanta City**_

It had taken Morgan and Gideon a record-breaking ten minutes to get to the storage facility and the S.W.A.T team truck hadn't been far behind them as they'd careened down the roads of Atlanta City.

Hotch was stood in front of the front of the SUV which had a map of the storage facility on it, already wearing a Kevlar-vest, with JJ and Prentiss on either side of him as he explained where they would all be relative to the storage room that they were going to hit in the next few minutes.

"JJ I want you on the east side, Prentiss; on the west. Morgan and Gideon will come in from the front and I'll come in from the back. We'll all have a S.W.A.T officer with us so remember; Reid's in there and we don't want him getting hit understand?"

JJ, Prentiss and Morgan all nodded knowing the score but Gideon was too busy looking at the storage room. Hotch moved over to stand beside him and Gideon muttered, "how are we going to know where he is? We could shoot him, we could kill him..."

Hotch understood Gideon's worry and decided to dispel it as best he could by saying, "we have a thermal imaging scanner," and as if on a cue, one of the S.W.A.T officers walked up holding said thermal imaging scanner and aimed it at the storage room, "it'll tell us exactly where everyone is the moment we enter and we'll also know who is who."

The S.W.A.T officer said into his microphone attached to his helmet, "We've got three bodies; two are standing and walking about, the third looks to be sitting down-"

"Or tied up," Gideon butted in quietly but the S.W.A.T officer ignored him.

"Two standing are male and female; look to be talking, caution is advised," the S.W.A.T officer continued to monitor the heat signatures as everyone got into position and the B.A.U team readied itself to go and rescue its fellow teammate.

"Female suspect is moving to seated figure, all units move in, move in!" the S.W.A.T officer called into his microphone and everyone responded in accordance, moving to take the storage room and hopefully stop another death.

**TBC...**

**That's quite the cliff-hanger... or at least it would be if this story wasn't already on my account, I mean yeah this is more detailed but you still know the ending... oh! Maybe I should change it?**

**Oh tempting... ;)**

**KaseyKC**


	8. Chapter 8

**OKAY! The last chapter of this revamped version of Chain Reaction! So I've got this out of the way and I've only got my other... whatever-number of fics to finish off :P**

**I hope everyone who's been reading this is happy with the revamp and that you've enjoyed my other fics too.**

**KaseyKC**

_**12:21pm, Storage room, Atlanta City**_

Reid rested his head against his torn and bleeding chest as he listened to the sounds of Sarah and Michael arguing; he remembered how they used to argue over the merest of things when they were younger and he didn't exactly like the idea that they were now arguing over him. He didn't want to be fought over by either of them but he didn't have the strength anymore, he couldn't even find the energy to raise his head and face his executioners and he'd managed that with Hankel.

The arguing subsided after a moment or two and the sound of the door opening alerted Reid to the fact that they were now in the same room as him; he listened intently as the sound of footsteps made their way towards him and his head was suddenly jolted up in a harsh grip by none other than Sarah.

She smiled at Reid and tapped his nose non-too-gently as she leaned in and whispered tantalisingly seductively in his ear, "do you want to die Spence?" she giggled slightly and ran her tongue over the length of Reid's ear before nipping it hard and stepping back to stand next to Michael.

Reid managed to somehow find enough energy to move his head slightly and looked at her and Michael standing together looking every bit the crazy-siblings that Reid now knew they were. He smiled lopsidedly and Sarah raised an eyebrow, she hadn't been expecting him to smile, as he answered in a thin papery voice, "not really... but what... do you care about what I... want Sarah? It's always... been about you... ever since we... were kids... you never gave a damn... about me... beyond saving you life... all you ever saw... was yourself... and your problems... so why change now?"

Sarah glared at Reid and he felt a grim sense of satisfaction since if he was going to die then he might as well piss them off as much as he possibly could; to leave a legacy of sorts to whoever took his place on the team, something that Morgan, Hotch and Gideon could be proud of...

As Sarah made a move towards Reid Michael gripped her wrist and pulled her back towards him, wrapping his arms around her protectively, and whispered words that Reid couldn't hear which seemed to calm Sarah down. Michael nuzzled her neck as he continued to whisper words into Sarah's ear and slowly but surely Sarah ended up smiling at Reid with her impish smile which unsettled Reid more than the prospect of dying did.

"Naughty naughty Spence... you shouldn't tell lies and you shouldn't insult people... didn't your mommy teach you manners?" Sarah disentangled herself from Michael's embrace and walked over to stand in front of Reid; she leaned down, placing her hands on Reid's knees, and laughed as her face came incredibly close to Reid's own, "oh yeah I forgot... your mommy couldn't teach you anything because she's a fruit-basket isn't she?"

Michael smiled as he watched Reid tense up and glare at Sarah with a deadly look of intent to cause bodily harm; he was always so predictable when it came to his mother. Sarah giggled and leaned in closer to Reid's face as she breathed softly into his ear, "I guess that's why your dad fucked off isn't it? He couldn't handle being in a house with two psychos!"

Reid licked his lips as he tried desperately to calm himself down enough to speak without wanting to tear Sarah's head off, he took a breath and said maliciously, "at least I know who my father is Sarah and I'd rather have a psycho for a mother than a half-wit slut like yours was."

Bingo...

"You bastard!" Sarah screamed as she slapped Reid hard across the face and pulled the dagger from its sheath on the table, "you fucking bastard!" she screeched as she dived at him, quicker than Michael could stop her, and held the blade at his throat, "you take that back! You take it back! TAKE IT BACK!"

Reid stared directly into Sarah's eyes and said, slowly and deliberately, "no."

"BASTARD!" She screamed as she began to draw the blade across his throat only to stop when the two doors into the room exploded open and several S.W.A.T officers came pouring in shouting this and that; but Reid didn't care for them, he only cared for the voices of the people he knew, his team...

"Put the knife down!"

"Don't move! On the ground!"

"Michael Clarkson you're-"

"No!"

It was getting dark, there's a pain in his neck, he can hear dim voices, he can see blurred figures, but he can't stop himself from going towards the darkness. The last thing Reid heard before he succumbed to the darkness was his own name.

"REID..."

_**21:24pm, Atlanta Hospital, three days later**_

Everything was a weird sort of dark shade of a muted, pewter grey and it was strange; it reminded him of the feeling that someone had turned off a child's nightlight and the only type of illumination was that of a full moon and twinkling stars, there were only silhouettes. His entire body, yes he had a body, felt like lead and weighted down; it felt like he was being slowly suffocated but he could breathe just fine and he didn't understand it.

He didn't want to understand it though... understanding meant waking up and he didn't want to wake up just yet... not when he felt so tired and weak...

'Just a few more minutes...' he thought as he let go of the thin thread that was attached to consciousness and slipped back into the world of blissful slumber.

_**16:09pm, Atlanta Hospital, six days later**_

He slowly opened his eyes, blinking rapidly at the sudden change in brightness, and slowly looked around himself; he was in a hospital room, another one, and he wasn't alone. In the chair next to his bed there was Gideon who was reading a sixteenth century novel which Reid remembered his mother reading to him when he'd been ill at the age of nine.

He felt heavy but not as weighed down as he had done the last time he recalled he'd been awake. Swallowing he winced as he throat felt tender and raw; what on earth had happened to him?

He closed his eyes and thought back to the last thing he clearly remembered; a room... a chair... he was tired up... Sarah... Michael... and-

'A knife! Oh God!' Reid's eyes snapped open as he flailed his arms and looked around himself, frantically searching for Sarah and the ever-present knife, but there was only him and Gideon in the room.

When Reid had started to flail Gideon had dropped the book on the floor and reached over to grasp Reid's hands gently but firmly as he tried to get Reid's attention, "Reid... Reid... Spencer... look at me Spencer."

Reid heard him calling him, ordering him, and focused his attention on Gideon who smiled and said softly, "it's alright Spencer... you're safe... you're in the hospital..."

Slowly but surely Reid's heartbeat slowed down and he relaxed enough for Gideon to feel it was safe for him to let go of Reid's wrists. Reid's arms dropped to land on the bed with an audible 'thump' and Gideon winced inwardly at the sight of the chafed skin which was red and raw but the doctors had said it was healing and it didn't need bandages as long as Reid didn't do too much too quickly.

Reid opened his mouth to speak and winced at the twinge in his throat that it caused, he frowned and managed to whisper, "Gideon... how long?"

Gideon looked at Reid and answered quietly as he picked up the glass of water and put a straw in it; he helped Reid drink some of it as he spoke, "it's been six days since we found you Spencer... but you woke up for a moment three days ago."

"Oh" Reid whispered as he winced at the pain in his throat again and Gideon smiled sadly and patted him on the arm.

"Go to sleep Reid; you need as much rest as possible," Gideon ordered softly and he thought Reid was going to do as he said but Reid had other ideas.

Reid whispered softly, "I thought I..." he swallowed slowly and winced again at the pain in his throat, "was going to die there..." he swallowed again and winced again, "I was so scared that I was going to die..."

"It's alright Spencer, you're alright now," Gideon said softly and he held onto Reid's forearm with a semi-tight grip which served to comfort them both, "you're safe now... so sleep, I'm not going anywhere. I promise."

Reid minutely nodded his head as he closed his eyes and drifted off back to the land of nod, foregoing the nightmares and the monsters of his sleep as he fully believed he was safe now that Gideon was protecting him; and he was pretty sure the rest of the team would be there when he next woke up.

Gideon leaned back in his chair and picked up the book he'd dropped when Reid had woken; he smiled and found the page he'd been at and began to read out loud in a low monotone voice which he knew would relax Reid even in his sleep.

**END**


End file.
